Following up on the huge success (well…) of Three swimrun gear hacks, here are three more — World Champs edition!
Hack 1: Gels in softflask
This might not apply to shorter races but could be useful for the upcoming World Champs. Last year I heard people had 20 or even 25 gels with them. Imagine the fiddling. I put my energy, caffeine and salts mix in a softflask instead. Bonus: you can fill up the flask with water at Ornö church avoiding running dry at that crucial part of the race where there will be no liquid served for a long while.
The natural follow-up question would be: where do I put the flask? In the pocket of the wetsuit of course! Problem is, most current swimrun suits don’t have pockets. That’s why I wear tight briefs. A bonus there is a softflask is less likely to cause rashes than pointy gels. Another way would be Head’s tank-top-style swimrun tops that feature a large front pocket. I think a tank-top would be a bit too warm for me, personally. For women, there is also a swimrun bra with a front pocket. Looks very handy! I’d try that i XXXXX large or cut the men’s swimrun top.
Hack 2: Shoes
Wear orienteering shoes for those comps which feature slippery rocks and off-trail. Not really a hack, is it? Well, anyway, VJ Sports Sarva Amas will be my footwear come September 3rd. Forget about all other properties in these races and go for grip. This very much applies to World Champs.
Hack 3: Don’t just train swimrun
Some people stress the importance of swimrun specific sessions. Sure, but when you have that dialed, think running, think swimming. All the best swimrunners do laps in the pool just like swimmers.
Learn from the best in swimming, and running. Don’t compare yourself to just the top people at your most high-profile national swimrun race and settle with that. Compare yourself instead to the fastest trail marathon runners of your country and aim for their level. Don’t set the bar too low. With the rapidly increasing level of competition in swimrun, in a few years, the bar will be unreachable if you do.
Also, think of ÖTILLÖ World Championship as an ultra endurance race. That means Ironmans or 10 h ultra foot races make good preparation to harden the body and learn to handle nutrition under such long races.
As I’m writing this we are almost two weeks out to the main event of the sport of swimrun, the ÖTILLÖ World Championships. Without doubt the most competitive race of the sport, ÖTILLÖ WC attracts the best athletes of all categories. Rumour has it that some of the teams that have been close or on podium last year have made Monday September 3 their highest priority for 2018, setting aside everything else.
Many are the teams returning for another shot where the heavy-weights fight it out, to improve on their previous efforts. With two weeks left, gradual tapering would set in for many of you, leaving time for last thoughts on equipment, race-day nutrition and race planning. Wouldn’t it be perfect if there would be a tool to help you with atleast some of that and add extra psych for the big day?
Enter Swimrun Watch — statistics and analytics for fans and athletes of competitive swimrun racing! I started working on this project almost a month ago and now is the time to reveal it and give you guys a chance to try it. Hopefully, it will be fun and maybe even useful for your pacing and race planning! Which teams are strong swimmers? Which die towards the end? The answers are in the data. Go find out!
Jesper Svensson (SWE) exiting the water with Daniel Hansson (SWE) on draft on their way to win 2017 World Champs. Jesper’s streak continued on for a recent win at Ironman Brazil. Photo: Jakob Edholm / ÖTILLÖ.
The men’s race played out as it usually does when you are up against Daniel Hansson. Very tight up until Ornö Church where Daniel and Jesper put the hammer down on their competition and went surprisingly fast over the very demanding islets separating Ornö and the finishing island Utö.
Women’s podium of the Swimrun World Championships 2017 with winners Kristin Larsson (SWE) and Annika Ericsson (SWE) — again! Photo: Jakob Edholm / ÖTILLÖ.
Swimrun Watch reveals winners Campz/Addnature managed to keep a wire-to-wire lead and compared to Orca Women they where only slower on one split — the home stretch uphill. All other green, indicating split advantage. However, that made no difference to the podium.
Adriel Young (AUS) and Eva Nyström (SWE) on their way to win the 2017 World Champs. Photo: Jakob Edholm / ÖTILLÖ.I hope team Apollo Sports/Head Swimming of Staffan Björklund (SWE) and Marika Wagner (SWE) got reports along the way because the race for first place in the mixed category was a nail biter. At Kvinnholmen about half-way Thule Crew had an almost 17 min lead but from there on it all went south, loosing time on every split. Had the race been a kilometer or two longer, Staffan and Marika would have won. But that didn’t happen and the strong-minded Eva Nyström (SWE) would hopefully smile following what most likely was some serious suffering, landing in the medical tent right after crossing the line.
I’ve written a bunch of race reports in Swedish, making them more or less inaccessible to all those people of other languages interested in this Sweden-borne swimrun sport. So this time, I’ll give you the tour of one of Sweden’s biggest races: Ångaloppet! Although, I’m not sure its just a race — more like a movement. Ångaloppet is for everyone! There’s a family race where an adult and a child swimrun together, short distances for trying the sport and hand paddles and lines for towing are banned. It’s supposed to be easy and fun to get into this sport and I think Ångaloppet is doing a great job in making a wider audience discover and appreciate the magnificent fun that this sport brings.
At the sharp end there is still a lot of fun and companionship, trust me, although heart is pounding and we’re pressing on in tight competition. The main event of Ångaloppet is no more than 22 km, which is short in the context of swimrun racing but still packs 24 swims. Water entries and exists all the time and a lot of trail/off trail makes for a hectic ride and tons of adrenaline! I so enjoy the feeling of being a hunted animal in the wilderness, or out hunting running through technical terrain and trying to outswim someone to the next islet.
Today I was back racing with my primary teammate Tomas Granberg of TG Swimrun notoriety. With no towline allowed, this race favors our very similar capacities in both disciplines of swimming and running. Also, we are both stronger in technical terrain than on runnable, which makes this course suit us. Usually we’ll for sure screw up something in a race but today was a fortunate exception. We executed a close to perfect race, which allowed us to advance as the race unfolded and cross the line as fifth finishers with the tenth best time ever on this course, to the best of our knowledge. Really pleased with our performance!
This bodes well for the big one, arising on the horizon like a fiend out of the Baltic ocean. I’m talking ÖTILLÖ World Championship 2018 — the relentless race of races that brings all the beauty of the salty and harsh archipelago along with massive fatigue. And we are now only three weeks out. That’s one more week of milage and then gradual tapering for Tomas and I. So looking forward to face the strobe of that first swim!
Oh. And the winners of today’s race, brothers Lars and Jonas Ekman of Bröderna bäver, are contenders for the win of the world championship. Last year they did the third fastest time ever in a world championship race and that was a step up from the year before. They are getting better and better, it looks, and I think that this year it will be gold for the brothers. Remember where you read it first.
Tomas and I having recently overtaken two orienteers.With said orienteers who went out at an impressive pace on the first run.Setting out controlled this is an early swim as number seven I think, working our way closer to the front as the race unfolds.Participant of the family race. Gear in check!Swimrun is fun and it’s for everyone.
Igår körde jag Öloppet med Nina Ellmark. Vi lyckades ta hem tredjeplatsen i mixklassen. Vilken bra partner! Funkade utmärkt tillsammans trots att vi inte ens tränat tillsammans innan och ingen av oss kört den här tävlingen tidigare.
Man ska inte syssla för mycket med ursäkter, så jag river av dem i en mening: Jag hade lite magproblem och jag tappade en lins. Det var det. Men när är ett lopp felfritt? Det är många komponenter som ska stämma i swimrun. Skönt med en förstående partner som gör det bästa av situationen!
Första simningen. Foto: Öloppet.
Vi simmade helt okej och loppet inleds med 1 km simning. Det gjorde att vi var tvåa den första milen innan Daniel Adams Ray och Charlotte Eriksson sprang förbi. De gick kanske ut försiktigt. De såg så fräscha ut och det var då min svacka började, så jag insåg att vi inte kunde hänga på.
Tanken då var att det var långt upp till ettan. I själva verket var avståndet till Oom/Eriksson som mest 6 min och då de fick problem på Vrångö minskade det därifrån hela tiden och slutade på 2 min i mål. Adams Ray/Eriksson slutade som etta. Det är lustigt vad lite man vet ibland mitt uppe i ett lopp. Man vet aldrig säkert vad som händer framför så ge inte upp!
Jag älskade banan, minus de långa asfaltslöpningarna. Riktigt fint att springa ute på skären. Och jäklar vad fina simningar med lagom vågor för att göra det lite äventyrligt! Det här gör jag gärna om. Jag tänkte innan att pallen var ett rimligt mål och det lyckades vi ju med. Blir det revansch nästa år så kanske ett eller två steg upp är rimligt!
Sitter på färjan från Ornö till fastlandet och senare idag ska jag och Minime till en annan ö — Korsika. Mycket skärgård på sommaren! Tänkte bara rada upp vad som gjorts sedan sist och vad som kommer de närmsta veckorna.
Gjort:
Stockholm Multi Island Run (SMIR): inte så mycket tävling utan mer en fin upplevelse!
Lost Water Swimrun Orienteering: vinst med Ola Lagerström. Jätterolig tävling i Hellas och sköna priser från Silva.
Vandrade/sprang Padjelantaleden (c:a 145 km på 3,5 d) med Ola Lagerström. Kan verkligen rekommenderas för löpare. Norr till söder (Akka – Staloluokta – Kvikkjokk) är det lättsprungen på kalfjäll de första 2/3. Oerhört vackert. Vi hade cirka 4 kg packning var och sov i samestugorna på vägen, som är mycket lika STF-stugor.
MIF triatlon på Ornö: etta för tredje året i rad. Nu kanske jag är klar med denna tävling och kan planera in något annat nästa år? Vi får se. Å andra sidan är det kul att göra något explosivt (~ 32 min) som avbrott mellan alla ultratävlingar.
Kommande:
Tänkte vandra GR20 men det blir mer traditionell semester på Korsika istället, med löp- och simträning, förstås.
Öloppet med Nina Ellmark.
Ångaloppet med Tomas Granberg.
Ötillö med Tomas Granberg.
Padjelanta.Mellan Njunjes och Kvikkjokk.MIF triatlon.MIF triatlon.Lost Water Swimrun Orienteering. Notera världsmästaren i skidorientering tvåa från vänster!Andreas dricker och äter, Ola orienterar. Man gör vad man är bäst på!
Igår blev det tredje året i rad jag sprang Urban 7 Summits för att sätta nytt fastest known time (banrekord, så att säga). U7S är en utmaning där man springer mellan — och förstås upp på — sju toppar i Stockholm. Man får springa vilken väg man vill och det blir ungefär 69 km om man springer smart.
Nytt FKT igen men ändå besvikelse när jag insåg redan efter 50 km att krafterna inte skulle räcka till U7SXL. Tanken var nämligen att samtidigt sätta nytt rekord på den längre varianten U7SXL, vilken är ungefär 95 km om man navigerar effektivt.
Patrik var dock starkare och orkade hela vägen med ett leende på läpparna. “Oförskämt fräsch” vid 69 km samtidigt som det kändes som att jag skulle behöva gå ett tag innan jag kunde springa igen. Lika bra att gasellen fick köra på resterande 26 km i eget tempo. Det är bara att tacka för inspirationen till att träna hårdare! För mig var det ett perfekt långpass inför ÖTILLÖ WC. Fram till mitten på augusti är planen på att köra ner mig lite i löpningen.
Vi hade lyxcrewning hela vägen med ny flaska och tilltugg i stort sett var femte km. Navigationen var pretty dialed men vi lyckades ändå villa bort oss vid några tillfällen. Inga stora katastrofer dock! Till aspirerande U7S-löpare ger jag rådet att studera kartan och Google Street View ordentligt innan och gärna provspringa komplicerade delar innan. Jag är inte helt nöjd med navigationen på Garmin Fenix 3 men bättre än ingenting.
Med det sagt uppmanar jag alla löpare där ute att ge sig på utmaningen. Vi hade en rolig och lyckad dag igår och jag är dels glad att sätta nytt FKT på U7S och lika glad att Patrik vid 69 km sprang vidare till ett nytt FKT på U7SXL på 8:47.
Detta är tidplanen jag satte ihop innan. Som ni ser höll vi den bra på U7S och vi låg tre min före vid Brukets backe där jag klev av. Varefter gasellen opened up the stride och mosade tidplanen till bitar.
Vägen vi planerade och nästan lyckades navigera rätt på.Så ritades vägen i GPX Track Editor.Bränsle: mackor (svårtuggat!), Snickers (svårtuggat), gels, elektrolytkapslar, koffeintabletter.
Did you ever feel a weird tension in your hands after a while of swimrunning? Well, relax your empty hand and watch the natural form of it from the side. It is not flat, it’s cupped, half closed. I started to experiment with curved paddles when Pontus Lindberg told me he once had paddled curved by design but that they got stolen and he now missed them. I just figured that I could bend a pair of plastic paddles myself. So I did like this. Remove the straps, put them in the oven resting on something but with the side you want to bend sticking out in the air. This is for you to notice when they start to soften. When that happens, take them out, bend to your liking and let cool. Voilà! You now have paddles that feel more natural in your hand and even gives a bit of a scoop to your catch.
Hack 2: Flip your bandana
Some bandanas, like mine, are wider over the ears. You might wonder why. Maybe to allow some peace from a chatty partner? Well, I wear it 90 degrees turned so that the wider part protects the forehead instead of blocking the ears. The only reason I wear a bandana is to protect my forehead from cold water, so maximizing that area while maximizing my hearing is perfect.
Hack 3: Goggles around the wrist
If you are like me and don’t like the feeling of having something tight around your neck you may want to carry your goggles like this. Goggles around the wrist leaves the hands free for scrambling, eating or holding paddles. Goggles resting around my forehead I found them to be foggy/sweaty when it is time for a swim. And as visible in the cover picture, you may even make coffee like this! Another way would be to put the goggles inside the swim cap and the cap inside of your wetsuit, tucking the goggles away but not having them touch your skin.
Ja men det var ju lyckat. Femma i herr på Stockholm Swimrun tillsammans med Fredrik Nilzén. Det blev lite partner shuffle då Tomas “Maskinen” Granberg körde med megasimmaren Ulf Hausmann. Men det är ju kul att testa en ny konstellation. Jag och Tomas kör fortfarande World Champs och annat tillsammans.
Konkurrensen såg inte ut att vara så hård dagen innan men sen dök Hansson/Moberg och Flores/Sjösten upp på tävlingsdagen som stridsbåtar i horisonten. Ångbryggeriet, vi och alla andra fick finna oss i att kliva ner två steg i resultatlistan. Men det är inte mer än rättvist. Någon klass måste det ju vara på pallen!
Kort sagt: Fredrik har starka ben och drog mig en del på löpningen och vi hade otroligt roligt!
Nynäs crew: Helena och Claes i lag Skärgårdshotellet och storfräsarna Johan och Jocke i Nynäshamns ångbryggeri. Samtliga vet hur man vilar innan start!Andreas och Fredrik så taggade.Ulf och Tomas var redo att dela Brunnsvikens vatten i två delar. Eller släppa en ny rap-singel. Oklart.Henrik med Andrew. Seriös simning!
The interest in the sport of swimrun nowadays is clearly not limited to Swedes so I thought it’d be considerate and write this in English. Anyway, last weekend me and Tomas Granberg raced ÖTILLÖ Swimrun Utö as the team TG Swimrun. It’s the second World Series event of the year after Hvar in Croatia and I’d say it is the second most competitive swimrun race on the planet (don’t know about Mars or Jupiter) after the World Champs.
This year, the competition at Utö really took a huge step up. Take our team as an example: 11 min faster this year but finished 17 total compared to 9 total last year. This year, Utö became a confluence of fast teams. There where no new teams in the top 10, but most of the top athletes of the sport had decided to participate, although still missing names such as Hanson, Moberg, Krochak and Olsson.
I decided to take a closer look at the performances of the top 50 teams at Utö this year. 16 of the teams raced the same event in 2017, when conditions were very similar to this year’s conditions. Comparing the times I noticed that almost all of the 16 teams were faster this year yet very few managed to defend their positions, just like us. Deeper front and a step up in performance all across the field.
Team finishing times, 2017 compared to 2018.Team finishing positions, 2017 compared to 2018.
I think you get the idea. Competition is getting tougher mainly because the existing athletes are becoming faster as they devote more effort to swimrun. The World Series race at Utö is mainly a Swedish concern, although 20 some teams where from outside of Sweden. Regardless, the sharp end is predominantly Swedish. Probably we’ll see national and regional competition sharpening at races in other places around the world the next few years.
There has been some talk in Sweden about athletes transitioning from related sports to swimrun, raising the standard at the front end. I think that already happend and there is not much more to expect from that in Sweden. We already have Swedish top end triathletes in swimrun: Pontus Lindberg (8:11 Ironman), George Bjälkemo (several national medals in mid distance), Eva Nyström (four national gold medals), Jesper Svensson, Oscar Olsson etc. From adventure racing/multiport we have top international level athletes such as Daniel Hansson, Kristin Larsson and Martin Flinta.
I think that at this point the talent pool of endurance athletics in Sweden is pretty much exhausted. There are some obvious world-class athletes fans of the swimrun would like to one day see at ÖTILLÖ, like Åsa Lundström and Patrik Nilsson (eighth in Kona 2017). However, I don’t think the time is ripe just yet for these people as they need to focus 100 % on triathlon. It would be unexpected of a young triathlete to venture off while still in the top international game of a much bigger sport, like Patrik Nilsson is. However maybe some more cases of guest appearances as by active pro triathlete Jesper Svensson while still maintaining their careers in triathlon?
Mixed category lead pack about 1/4 into the race at Utö 2018: Thomas Schreven (NED) and Jasmina Glad-Schreven (FIN) of Say No to Doping! and Martin Flinta (SWE) and Helena Karaskova Erbenova (CZE?) of Thule Adventure Team. Photo: Pierre Manges/ÖTILLÖ.
Anyway, back to the World Series race at Utö. I’ve done the race four times now, 2015 onwards. I’d recommend bringing a neoprene bandana as normal condition at Utö mean some swims will be a bit cold. However, I’m not a fan of long sleeve or leg wetsuits. That’s not where I get cold anyway, and they’d be a huge disadvantage on the runs. Sleeves and legs as short as possible since the cold really just gets to my face and forehead anyway. We actually rolled down the top of our wetsuits during the 7 km long run this year. I’m not fully sure that was the best choice as it takes some time and fiddling, but it sure was comfortable. Wetsuit designers have the last few years designed shorter front zippers which I think is a bad idea. Sure, very marginal gains on drag, but the running is much more uncomfortable when you can’t zip down properly.
More about the characteristics of this race, it is a race of short but many swims. Transition efficiency is key. Also, runs are a mix of heavy terrain and flat runnable. To do well at this race you have to be able to run the 7 km flat gravel in the middle of the race at a high pace. If you are a fast off-trail runner, make sure to exit the swims leading into the wilder land sections ahead of any possible packs because at narrow paths overtaking may prove difficult.
All in all, Utö is a compressed version of the World Championship race with the WC being more of everything: longer runnable section on Ornö, even tougher terrain at large sections, longer and more exposed swims. However, the terrain is is very beautiful, but maybe not at unbelievable as at the WC. I leave you with scenery from the World Champs of last year. Can’t wait until the first Monday of September!
Trevlig dag igår med 80,5 km blandat underlag på TEC 50 (Täby Extreme Challenge 50 Miles). Jag gick ut lite för hårt med de två första varven (11,5 km per varv) strax över timman per varv. Det kan jämföras med mitt saktaste varv — varv sex av sju — på typ 1 h 15 min. Inte optimalt men heller ingen katastrof. Uppenbarligen var det gott om löpare som pacat sig ännu sämre för jag tuggade mig upp från placering 10 till tre.
Race management är jag mycket nöjd med, i form av äta och dricka, solskydd, effektiviteten vid varvning o.dyl. Fick lite stöd vid varvning av David Pyring med att fylla flaskan o.s.v. Jag tror att jag klarade vätska, energi och värme bättre än andra. Jag blev varm men tog till knepet att droppa linnet under andra halvan av loppet vilket var bra både mot värmen och skavet mellan lats och biceps. Och så skvätte jag vatten på mig i några kärr av samma anledning.
Lite stolt och lite nöjd, men inser hur långt jag är ifrån de bästa. Ettan var 30 min före mig och banrekordet var 1 h 20 min bort (Thomas Chaillou 2016). Men jag tror att jag tänker rätt när jag jämför mig med såna människor isf att jämföra min löpning med andra swimrunners. Glad över en tredjeplats, hur som helst och en fin start på säsongen.
Bilden på topp tre togs av Daniel Becker.
Foto: David Sundvall.Foto: David Pyring.Foto: David Pyring.
